


Martin Got Back

by justpeace



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Admiration of Assets, Jon does not understand his own sexuality, M/M, Martin is a tall drink of water, Tim and Sasha being buds, and he knows, and obviously he's not Basira's type, but it's just so much FUN to watch people freak out about it, but it's not NOT a meet-cute, it's not exactly a meet-cute, very little mention of monsters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:14:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27316855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justpeace/pseuds/justpeace
Summary: Martin's got a special something that everyone else can't help but notice. Even Jon.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Kudos: 123





	Martin Got Back

**Author's Note:**

> This mostly focuses on s1 but there is future speculation as well that you could argue includes mild spoilers for s4.

The first time Jon meets Martin, Martin is sitting down while Jon is standing. This is relevant because Jon’s initial impression of Martin is unremarkable--Martin seems a little awkward and nervous, but that’s all.

A few weeks later (let it not be said Jon has ever been good at _socializing_ with _coworkers_ ), Jon nearly runs into someone leaving the staff kitchen and as he testily asks the buttons of a purple cardigan to step to the right, please, he hears Martin’s hesitant voice and looks up in surprise. Martin is already apologizing and moving out of the way, though, and Jon walks past on autopilot with a muttered thank you.

 _I didn’t realize he was quite so tall_...Jon thinks to himself when he’s back in his office. Were his shoulders always that broad? Surely no one goes through a growth spurt in their twenties...or however old Martin is?

As a rule, Jon doesn’t think too much about his colleagues. So he files those thoughts away and just occasionally wonders how mugs of tea must look in Martin’s large hands.

About the fourth time they interact, Martin comes into Jon’s office to ask if Jon wants a cuppa. Jon is...surprised, somewhat, but not ungrateful. He gives Martin his preferences and thanks him, and turns back to his papers. A few minutes later, Martin comes back in with a mug (one of the gaudier ones, Jon notices), and Jon thanks him again, tries to smile despite his exhaustion. Martin turns to leave, and Jon is just about to make another note on a file when he hears Martin stumble in the doorway.

“I’m okay!” Martin announces quickly before continuing to walk away. Jon, out of respect for a fellow human during a trying time, pretends he didn’t hear anything, but he’s already looked up to make sure Martin’s fine, and he notices...something about Martin’s retreating figure. As soon as he notices, he immediately regrets looking. Luckily, a particularly strange statement comes up, and he loses himself describing rubbish bags full of human teeth. Just a regular day.

It’s a week or two later when he overhears the conversation with the other assistants. He doesn’t ever mean to eavesdrop, but when he keeps his office door open...well, the acoustics in the building are such that he hears conversations made in the small archives kitchenette (not as favored as the main kitchen as there’s nothing except an electric kettle, sink, Jon’s carefully-caculated-to-be-unused-by-others tea collection, and a minifridge). Usually he keeps his door closed, or at least closes it when he starts to hear people talking because it’s usually boring gossip. This time, though, he’s busy as the conversation starts to filter in and by the time he actually starts listening he’s curious. He can tell it’s Tim and Sasha, and he hates that his brain perks up when he hears Martin’s name.

_“-said he ripped his trousers trying to get samples from the sidewalk, can you imagine?”_

_“....Yeah. Yeah I can, actually, and it’s great.”_

_“Tim! You’re not supposed to perv on your colleagues, I’m pretty sure there’s a section in the handbook-”_

_“I submit that it’s not perving to admire someone’s...assets. I mean you can hardly miss it.”_

Jon rolls his eyes and expects Sasha to shut Tim down, which she is usually more than capable at. Instead, he hears her laugh.

_“D’you think he just...constantly does squats when he’s at home?”_

_“Seems unlikely. I think it’s a cruel joke from God that he has the most timid personality but the most bodacious-”_

_“Tim!”_

_“Sorry, right, the handbook.”_

_“In many ways it was easier when you were just hitting on me.”_

_“Ah, do you miss my ardent admiration and romantic notes? My completely professional love poems?”_

Jon hears them leave the kitchenette and hurriedly buries his nose in a statement, offended. Jon’s stopped expecting better of Tim, but Sasha at least knows better. Jon’s pretty sure that Tim thinks with his dick more than anyone Jon has ever met. Briefly, Jon wonders if he should say anything to Martin, but as soon as the thought enters his mind his face gets hot and uncomfortable and he knows in his bones that he cannot face a conversation like that. And what would he say, anyway? "Your arse is distracting to your colleagues, please consider wearing baggier pants?" It truly doesn’t bear thinking about.

Unfortunately, Jon continues to have what might be described as a “rough time” with Martin. The other assistants have noticed Jon gets a particular _tone_ where Martin is concerned, and everyone (including Martin) takes it to mean that Jon is constantly annoyed with Martin. Which is, for the most part, true. It’s just that Jon is constantly annoyed with Martin _because_ Martin’s...Martin-ness makes it difficult for Jon to concentrate when they’re in the same room. It doesn’t help that as soon as Martin picked up on Jon’s weird reaction he started _apologizing constantly_ , which only serves to make Jon even more annoyed because it’s not as though Martin has done anything wrong, technically.

Any incident relating to Martin only serves to make things worse. One day, a person coming in to give a statement asks for “The assistant? You know, the one with the-” and as she motions to her backside Jon breaks an innocent pencil he’d been holding, walks away, and refuses to leave his office until well after everyone’s gone.

Jon makes one attempt to try and explain to Martin that he doesn’t hate him or think he’s incompetent, and it backfires so spectacularly that Martin avoids him for weeks, and then Jon _does_ think he’s incompetent, and _then_ Martin gets penned up for thirteen days by Jane Prentiss and Jon is irrationally angry at him for being in danger. It occurs vaguely to Jon that he has a significant problem where Martin is concerned, but instead of any real self reflection he locks that thought and all related thoughts and feelings away for a long, long time.

\---

Years later, and when Jon’s had a bit of a think about everything, he asks Martin the important question.

“Do you _intentionally_ wear tight trousers?”

“What?”

“I just, I mean, you must know how you look in them-”

_“WHAT??”_

“It’s just that if you wore baggier trousers-”

“ _Jonathan Sims_ , have you been _STARING AT MY BUM THIS WHOLE TIME??_ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Look ok all I can say in my defense is that when I was 13 I had a t-shirt with a cute elephant logo that said "junk in the trunk" and I had NO IDEA WHAT THAT MEANT and I just WORE IT AROUND and I have spent my entire adult life thinking about that fact. It haunts me. Also this is my personal headcanon of why Jon was such a dick to Martin in the early episodes. I think I have made my case pretty clearly.


End file.
